10 February 2012

If you follow my blog you know that I hate to reinvent the wheel and I just want to get the important info out to my readers. So I am going to refer you to a couple of other blogs where the authors have done a fantastic job of discussing and presenting the features of the new FamilySearch Family Tree. I have enjoyed a number of presentations given lately by Ron Tanner of FamilySearch; (about five, I think!) on the subject of the changes coming later this year with new.familysearch.org. New FamilySearch will become part of FamilySearch.org and become Family Tree. I'm testing this Family Tree now and, even though it still needs work, it will be a worldwide family tree. Eventually it will have sources, links to online sources, stories and pictures.

A couple of my fellow bloggers, Ancestry Insider and James Tanner from Genealogy's Stareach has posted about this change and the ensuing product. So rather than me redoing the same thing, I want to send your their way.

These changes will be opened to the public, hopefully by the end of the year, for everyone to utilize, including both adding to and editing the family trees! We should all be extremely excited! So hop on over and read!

08 February 2012

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you know someone that has shoeboxes of old photos that are waiting to
be scanned? Perhaps a few heirloom items? What better way to show your
love this Valentine’s Day then by giving them a Flip-Pal mobile scanner
to preserve those memories!

From
February 8 through Valentine’s Day (February 14) 2012, you can make
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07 February 2012

Genealogy Community Responds To Efforts To Remove Access to Social Security Death Index and Other Records

February 7, 2012– Austin, TX: The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) – a joint coalition of international genealogical societies representing millions of genealogists and family historians – announces the launch of its Stop ID Theft NOW! campaign with its We The People petition posted at WhiteHouse.gov.

Call To Action For IRS To Do Its Job

Each year, fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults are filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The current target is the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) or Death Master File since this file, as found on numerous genealogy-oriented websites, could possibly be the source of identity thieves acquiring a deceased person’s Social Security number.

The IRS could close the door to this form of identity theft if, in fact, it were to use the Death Master File for the purpose for which it was created: to reduce fraud. If returns claiming a tax refund were screened against the Master Death File and matching cases identified for special processing, the thief should receive a rejection notice for the filing.

Tax Fraud and Identity Theft: Genealogists Are Not To Blame

The House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security is proposing to completely shut down use of the SSDI by genealogists as well as other industries such as banking and insurance that rely upon its information. Such an attempt is short-sighted and runs counter to the original purpose of the SSDI: to actually combat fraud.

Loss of Access to SSDI Affects More Than Genealogists

The SSDI is accessed by many different companies, non-profits and other entities besides individuals researching their family history. Forensic specialists utilize the SSDI when reuniting remains of military veterans with their next-of-kin and descendants. Law offices, banks and insurance companies utilize the SSDI to resolve probate cases and to locate heirs.

All of these entities would be required to spend more money and more time leveraging other resources of information when the SSDI has served this purpose, uninterrupted, for over a decade.

RPAC Petitions Obama Administration

The We the People petition, now posted at http://wh.gov/khE and accepting signatures, has a simple yet effective mission:

Take immediate steps that would curtail the filing of fraudulent tax refund claims based upon identity theft from recently deceased infants and adults.

[Note: Visitors to the WhiteHouse.gov website must log in to sign the petition, or click Create an Account to register. Once registered, return tohttp://wh.gov/khE to sign the petition.]

No need for lengthy hearings in front of a Congressional committee. No need for filing statements for or against any House action. No need to waste time and effort which could be directed to more pressing national issues. In fact, the National Taxpayer Advocate in 2011 issued suggestions which do not require additional legislation but can be implemented collaboratively between the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA) almost immediately in time to impact the current tax filing season.

About Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC)

The Records Preservation & Access Committee (RPAC) was formed to advise the genealogical community on ensuring proper access to historical records of genealogical value in whatever media they are recorded, on means to affect legislation, and on supporting strong records preservation policies and practices.

The genealogical community works together through The Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC), which today includes The National Genealogical Society (NGS), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) as voting members. The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG), the American Society of Genealogists (ASG), ProQuest and Ancestry.com serve as participating members.

LeafSeek
helps you turn your genealogical or historical record collections into
searchable online databases. LeafSeek includes features such as built-in
geo-spatial
searches, pop-up Google Maps, Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching, name
synonyms, and language localization to help you turn your spreadsheets
of names and dates into a full-featured genealogy search engine. Check
it out at
leafseak.com.

Third Place (tie): Brigham Young University Computer Science Department, 20 Minute Genealogist

20 Minute Genealogist is a site that will visualize your family tree using your
new.FamilySearch.org
credentials. You can see who in your tree needs work and instantly link
to FamilySearch and Ancestry to search for the missing information.
Sign up to be a beta tester at
twenty.byu.edu.

Third Place (tie): Ellie Rasmus, Facetree

Facetree has been developed as a way of using
genealogical data from GEDCOM files as context to improve the accuracy
of face recognition.

The main presentation for this meeting will be by Randy Bryson on FAMILYSEARCH SCANNING - THE STORY OF OPENING THE GRANITE MOUNTAIN RECORDS VAULT. Since 1938 the Genealogical Society of Utah, which is now part of FamilySearch, has been capturing on film the records of the world and storing that film in the Granite Mountain Records Vault. In the past decade, modern technology and dedicated engineers have developed a means to convert those images on film to images on the Internet. This presentation will provide insight into how the images are being converted, some of the incredible challenges that have been overcome, and how today we experience one of the most prolific efforts in the world to make the records of our ancestors available to a world-wide population. Randy Bryson is currently an Area Family History Advisor in the Utah South Area of the LDS Church and is a past Family History Center Director, as well as formerly serving as 1st Counselor in the Lehi Utah Stake Presidency with assignment over Temple and Family History work. Also, professionally working for the Family History Department, he has had experience in the development and use of FamilySearch.org, newFamilySearch, Scanning, Indexing, and older products such as Personal Ancestral File (PAF), the Pedigree Resource File (PRF), and other systems. He now works to use the Church's technology to provide FamilySearch to the homes of members and nonmembers alike. Brother Bryson lives in Lehi, Utah with his beautiful wife, Madge, also an Area Family History Adviser. They have two married daughters and three married sons with twelve grandchildren in Utah, Idaho and Alabama.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes about family history and technology with something for everyone at any level of expertise. The teachers and classes presently scheduled for this meeting are as follows:

Using the U.S. Census, by Marilyn Thomsen

Using Ancestry's Family Trees, by Kathy Magleby

Q&A on Scanning Records in the Granite Vault

Video of last month's main presentation: The Changing Face of Family History Research, by Karen Clifford

Personalized Help, by Don Engstrom & Finn Hansen

RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee

Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay

Legacy, by Dean Bennett.

All meetings of the Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays.

RIVERTON,
UTAH - Genealogists and enthusiasts alike have benefited from
new.familysearch.org, but FamilySearch’s new Family Tree will take things to a
whole new level. Back by popular demand
is one of our favorite speakers, Ron Tanner, who will offer the keynote address
at the Riverton Saturday Seminar on February 18. In his address, “The Future of
FamilySearch Family Tree,” he will discuss the issues with new.familysearch,org
and how the Family Tree that is being built for www.familysearch.org will solve many of the existing problems. He will also offer a product demonstration of
the Family Tree.

Ron
Tanner is a product manager for the Family History Department. His primary responsibility
is to lead a team doing research and design of new.familysearch.org and
companion products. Ron has a master’s degree in Computer Science from BYU and
has previously worked as a product manager and engineer at Novell, Citrix, and
Bell Laboratories. Ron and his wife
CheRee have four children, 2 son-in-laws, and a daughter-in-law.

Following
the 9:00 a.m. keynote presentation, there will be two blocks of four classes each
that will cover topics of interest to both beginning and advanced family
history enthusiasts.

Registration
is not required for this free seminar. The Riverton FamilySearch Library is
located in the LDS Riverton Office Building at 3740 Market Center Drive. The
facility is near the intersection of Bangerter Highway and 13400 South, just
east of the Home Depot.

A new day has dawned and the Genealogy world is excited! FamilySearch launched its much-anticipated
mobile device for indexing. The device will expand the capability of
volunteers to help make the world’s historic records searchable online.
The mobile device app works
on Apple iPads, iPhones, and Droid smartphones. You can now index records from around the world while you are on the go!

I will cover the iPad process. First, go to your app store icon on your iPad. Search for “FamilySearch indexing”, download, and wait for the installation to complete. If you have a FamilySearch login you can enter the information and enter indexing immediately. If you do not have one there is a link to register for a free account.

When you first open the indexing app you receive the typical license agreement page. The first page displayed after that is the guide to indexing records and instructions on interpreting the data. Carefully read through the instructions so that you will be comfortable with the way fields of data should be transcribed. To gain the most accuracy with the transcribed records it's important to follow the punctuation guidelines and information on Names and Title use. You can always refer back to the guide by selecting the icon located at the bottom center of the app.

Select the indexing tab (bottom left) to see image snippets from handwritten historical documents from a variety of record forms that allow you to simply transcribe what you see in the image. Because the image size is small enough to fit on the screen of the iPad or iPhone you only see a single field from the set of records which is typically a name. Transcription of these single name images may easily provide indexes for those records that are currently browsable only or to some new records.Just tap the white space for your keyboard to display and start typing the name. When you are confident you have it spelled as displayed simply click on SUBMIT at the right side of the while space.

If you are having difficulty deciphering the written names, select the icon at the top center of the screen to view the entire document, or a larger area of it, which will help you compare the handwriting on the entire page.

As you proceed through the images you can select the history tab located at the bottom of the app. This tab screen will let you view the images, as well as, your transcription of the images that have been submitted. If you determine that your translation was probably incorrect you can swipe your finger from the right side of the screen towards the center and a delete button will appear for that image. That image will be transcribed by others and compared with all transcriptions until a consensus is reached.

The stats tab will easily show you the number of images you transcribed and the level of difficulty. On the settings tab you can establish your preferred level of difficulty and save some records off line to transcribe when you are not connected to a computer or Wi-Fi. (Future enhancement)

Currently, the FamilySearch indexing app is in beta version and is free for you to help transcribe the millions of images FamilySearch is providing to the public worldwide for free. More enhancements will be forthcoming to add extra value to the app.

Use one of the apps to help you grow your indexing skills and you will be prepared when the 1940 census is released for indexing in about 55 days (April 2, 2012. Hundreds of thousands of individuals from around the world are needed to help transcribe all FamilySearch records including the 1940 U.S. Federal census records as quickly as possible. FamilySearch is collaborating with both Archives.com and brightsolid, both online providers of genealogical and historical data, to provide high quality indexed records for the 1940 census.